ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ CC Sabathia was doing his workhorse best to keep the Yankees in Friday's game.
Meanwhile, the Rays were busy shuttling in fresh pitchers at Tropicana Field, on a night that began with reliever Ryne Stanek serving as the "opener."
A 'Bizarro World' setting played out further, as Yankees' hot shots and long drives were turned into outs and two Rays' infield hits led to an important run.
And when the Yankees began playing their version of small ball, it wasn't enough to prevent the Rays' 2-1 win before 27,252 fans.
The usual healthy version of Yankees rooters in the Rays' crowd watched Miguel Andujar open the ninth with a single off Sergio Romo.
But after Gleyber Torres flied out, Brett Gardner bounced into a game-ending double play.
The Yankees' lone run came in the seventh. Reliever Chaz Roe walked Torres to open the inning.
Back in the lineup after being sidelined since Saturday (right knee inflammation), Gardner's bleeder of a single was followed by Aaron Judge's soft, RBI single to right _ just the Yanks' fourth hit to that point on Friday.
Sabathia went 51/3 innings, charged with one earned run on nine hits and a walk, with four strikeouts.
Two days after creating his "signature" Yankee moment with a walk-off home run, Giancarlo Stanton had his most memorable defensive moment _ saving a run in the fifth.
With the Rays already leading 1-0, Matt Duffy and Wilson Ramos opened the inning with infield hits, putting runners at the corners.
(Duffy had reached second as Sabathia's ill-advised glove flip eluded first baseman Greg Bird for an error).
Next up, cleanup hitter C.J. Cron's drive to right sent Stanton crashing into the right-field wall.
Stanton's leaping catch prevented a possible double or two-run triple, leaving the Rays to settle for a sacrifice fly and a 2-0 lead.
As the fans were still buzzing and the Yankees dugout was still saluting Stanton for his stellar play, Sabathia got Jake Bauers to ground into the shift for an inning-ending double play.
But after Judge's RBI hit in the seventh, Roe bounced back _ getting Stanton on a comebacker. Lefty Jose Alvarado then got Didi Gregorius on a broken-bat groundout, ending the inning.
After his first two at-bats ended in strikeouts, the normally stoic Judge was as demonstrative as he can get on the field.
Leading off the third inning, Judge shouted to himself and strangled the barrel of his bat following the second of two called third strikes by plate umpire Phil Cuzzi.
Judge's first strikeout contributed to a wasted opportunity, as Gardner began the game on second base _ singling to right and taking the extra base as Carlos Gomez briefly mishandled the bouncing ball for an error.
It was a good test and an immediate sign of the strength in Gardner's right knee (an MRI last Sunday had revealed the inflammation).
Judge walked in the fifth and his single in the seventh _ coming on the first pitch _ produced his team-leading 51st RBI.
Sanchez flirted with a three-run homer in the first inning, flying out to the center-field warning track. That was the 25th and last pitch thrown by the right-handed Stanek.
Lefty Ryan Yarbrough followed with 31/3 scoreless innings, yielding one hit and three walks.
Diego Castillo followed with two scoreless innings, the third of six Rays pitchers.
Sanchez again flied out to deep center to end the third inning, and his rocket one-hop grounder was turned into an out by third baseman Duffy leading off the sixth.
And Bird is still waiting to find some rhythm at the plate, going 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
Bird is now in a 7-for-49 stretch (.143).
